Baby Bella
by LivingInTheClouds
Summary: What if Bellatrix Lestrange had run through a different door? Through to the room with the Bell Jar? What if she became a child? How would Harry deal with being the guardian of his Godfather's three-year-old murderer?
1. Chapter 1

***"Harry-no!" Cried Lupin, but Harry had already ripped his arm from Lupin's slackened grip.**

**"SHE KILLED SIRIUS!"Bellowed Harry. "SHE KILLED HIM-I'LL KILL HER!"**

**And he was off, scrambling up the stone benches. People were shouting behind him, but he did not care. The hem of Bellatrix's robes whipped out of sight ahead and they were back in the room where the brains were swimming...**

**She aimed a curse over her shoulder. The tank rose into the air and tipped. Harry was deluged in the foul-smelling potion within. The brains slipped and slid over him and began spinning their long, colored tentacles, but he shouted, "_Wingardium Leviosa_!" and they flew into the air away from him. Slipping and sliding he ran on toward the door. He leaped over Luna, who was groaning on the floor, past Ginny, who said, "Harry-what-?" past Ron, who giggled feebly, and Hermione who was still unconscious. He wrenched open the door into the circular black hall and saw Bellatrix disappearing through a door on the other side of the room-beyond her was* **the room with the bell jar and and broken time-turners.

Catching the door just before it slammed shut, he dodged a curse from the murdering witch and sent a stunning spell followed by a flippendo hex.

Bellatrix dodged the first spell and deflected the second. She really should have paid more attention to the diverted spell, because while she was casting a Cruciatous Curse towards Harry, the flippendo hex hit the bell jar with the humming bird, which fell onto Bellatrix. Harry could only watch in horror and amazement as the witch who murdered his godfather changed dramatically.

It was odd, seeing the transformation. She went from a sunken-faced, Azkaban tortured middle-aged woman, to a pretty young woman like in Kreatcher's pictures, to a beautiful teenager, to a sweet-looking preteen and, finally, as she stumbled out of the bell jar, an innocent-looking toddler.

Without thinking, Harry raised his wand at the confused child, trying to figure out what to do (bloody conscious... still sounded like Hermione...), when Remus burst in, stopping in shock at Bellatrix's appearance.

Bellatrix just looked up at the two curiously and said, "Hi, I'm Trixie! Who're you?"

* * *

Harry left the headmaster's office an hour later. Sirius was dead. After Remus burst in, Harry had done as told and ran to the Atrium to get the hell out of there. Unfortunately, he ran into Lucius Malfoy, who freaked out over the prophecy being destroyed, and Voldemort, who tried to kill him. Dumbledore had arrived and saved him from being possessed by Voldemort, and ported him away just after the Minister (of Denial) himself saw him and who whispered, "He's back," as Voldemort apparated away.

So, walking away after being told that he was supposed to kill or be killed, the last thing on his mind was what would happen to Bellatrix Lestrange. After all, it wasn't like it could affect HIM.

Oh, how wrong he was.

* * *

Rubbing his temples, Cornelius Fudge asked Amelia Bones wearily, "So let me get this straight. Bellatrix Lestrange; madwoman, torturer, and murderer extraordinaire, cannot be arrested. WHY?"

Sighing, the middle-aged woman replied in an equally weary tone, "Minister. She is THREE. And not merely in physical appearance. If that were the case, there would be no question about chucking her into Azkaban. When time jar fell on her, it decreased her age mentally as well. We even asked her sisters Andromeda Tonks and Narcissa Malfoy, for things she knew when she was three, and things she wouldn't know until later. She wasn't even fully sure what Hogwarts was, just that, and I quote, 'Mother and Father said Hogwarts is where I'll be educated an' take my place in noble Slyth'rin. What's Slyth'rin?' Cornelius, she had no clue who You-Know-Who is! She just giggled and said it was a funny name when she heard it!"

"So what do we do with her? Give her to one of her sisters?"

"No. You know that the law requires prisoners be provided a lawyer, correct? Well, Rudolphus found out about Bellatrix, and had his lawyer draw up annulment papers, stating that he refused to raise his wife. So, she must return to her Family House. House Black."

"Who's the Head of House since Black is dead? Does she go somewhere else?"

"Well, that's where the problem is. Sirius Black left Headship of the Black Family to whom he said was the son he never had."

"Person being?"

"Harry Potter."

...

...

...

"WHAT?" Yelled Fudge hysterically.

"Yeah. It also emancipates the boy."

"Great. So how the HELL do we explain to the boy that he is now the guardian of his godfather's murderer?"

"I haven't the foggiest."

"Send a letter?"

"Isn't that a tad cowardly?"

"Would you like to tell him?"

"Point taken."

* * *

The last day of term, when every Hogwarts student would board the train and go home, dawned bright and early. Harry Potter was expecting nothing out of the ordinary this day. He was coming to terms, at least a little, with Sirius' death. His talk with Sir Nick had helped. Getting out of bed, he went downstairs to the common room, and a half hour later was headed to the Great Hall with Ron and Hermione for breakfast.

Sitting down, he placed some eggs and toast on his plate when the owls streamed in, one of which headed for him. The owl flew off immediately after he took the letter.

Reading said letter, he he went through several different emotions. First, curiosity. Then, shock, anger, and finally, resigned and begrudging acceptance.

"Harry?" Hermione asked. "What's wrong?"

He handed her the letter, which read;

Dear Mr. Potter,

It is the Ministry's duty to inform you that, in accordance to your Godfather's will, you are now the Head of House Black.

Because of this, it is also the Ministry's duty to inform you that you are also now the guardian of Miss Bellatrix Black, formerly Lestrange. This is due to the annullment of her marriage to Rudolphus Lestrange and her age, currently three years, her age being due to an accident in the Department of Mysteries.

Good day and good luck to you,

Cornelius Fudge  
Minister of Magic

Amelia Bones  
Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement

The other piece of parchment informed him that as he was emancipated, the underage restriction laws no longer applied to him, and that Bellatrix would be awaiting him with an Auror at Hogsmeade Train Station.

Leaping up, he left Ron and Hermione, heading to the Headmaster's office, hoping he could tell him whether or not this was true.

Reaching the gargoyle, he guessed, "Lemon Drops." The gargoyle didn't budge.

"Snickers."

"Licorice Wand."

"Jaw Breaker."

"Cockroach Cluster."

"Chocolate."

"Canary Cream."

"Thin Mint?" It opened.

Walking up the stairs, he muttered, "Of course he would change it to a cookie of all things. I guess they could be called a candy. Who knew the old man liked Girl Guide cookies?"

Knocking on the door, Harry was bid entry.

"Harry my boy," Dumbledore said. "What's troubling you? The prophecy?"

Harry just handed him the missives from the Ministry. Dumbledore blinked repeatedly in shock as he read.

Gaping, the old man croaked out, "What? Is this true?"

Groaning, Harry said, that's what I wondered sir. Please, please, PLEASE tell me this is just a joke done in poor taste by the Weasley twins."

Recovering from his shock, the Headmaster looked over the letter again, and hit it with a few spells before saying, "Alas my boy, it is true. But perhaps some good may yet come of this."

Harry just shook his head and left. As he walked down the hall and out toward the train station, Harry couldn't help but dwell on what awaited him. Bellatrix Black. The woman who killed Sirius. The woman who tortured Neville's parents into insanity. And she was three. She didn't remember a blessed thing about anything past the time she was three. Good Lord, help them both.

_

* * *

_

Okay, so this is just a plot bunny that got stuck in my head, and I figured I'd ask what people think. And by the way, the part in the beginning, between asterisks, is directly quoted from OotP.


	2. Chapter 2

**Baby Bella - Chapter Two**

**_I just changed a few details, mostly in the last section or two, lookat the end for a synopsis of changes._**

_Well, I finally got around to finishing off the second chapter, thanks to a few reviews and a PM that kicked my butt into gear, and typed it up. Merry Christmas all, I hope it's a good one._

* * *

As Harry dragged his trunk from the carriage to Hogsmeade Station, he worried. What the hell was he supposed to do with a three year old little girl? Really? What? Especially on whom had murdered his godfather? Then again, she didn't remember that, now did she? She didn't remember a single bleeding thing past her third birthday. Oh bloody hell. Harry stopped dead in his tracks, causing a third year girl to run into him, before she glared at him and walked on. Did anyone think to explain to her why precisely she was now under his care? Probably not, knowing the incompetence of the Ministry. If nothing else, this past year had highlighted that particular aspect of the Wizarding World for him.

So. It appeared as though he'd be dealing with a traumatized, three year old girl, who committed murder, but can't be charged for it, because she doesn't remember it, and even Wizards won't convict a three year old, and she was in his care. Oh joy of most joyous joys. How to explain this one to his Aunt and Uncle?

And he probably should stop calling her a murderer, even if it was only in his head.

Finally arriving at the station, he decided to take a leaf out of Hermione's book for once. He would find out what she had been told, what she knew, and what she expected of him. That would hopefully cover everything. At least, until they got to London. That was a completely new story.

* * *

Looking up at the red robed man beside her, Bellatrix Black was rather sad, especially for such a normally perky, happy little girl. After she had somehow gone from going to bed at Aunt 'Burga's and Uncle Orion's to standing in front of the angry boy with his wand out, and the tired man in raggedy clothes that neither Mother nor Auntie 'Burga would ever approve of on anybody, the raggedy man had just picked her up, her, Bellatrix Elizabeth Anne Black, of he Noble and Ancient House of Black! He'd just picked her up, without so much as a by your leave, and not even asked! Didn't he have any manners, at all?

And then!

Then the raggedy man, ignoring her many protests, had taken her up some really, really, really, really, really, super long stairs! And after that he had taken her to see this weird lady in her dressing gown and with a funny looking thing in her eye like Great Grandfather's portrait had in his painting. And after all that craziness, they had ignored her! They just started talking about all sorts of weird stuff like a veil that kills people, and someone called Sirius being thrown in, and murder, and someone named Harry Potter! Who was Harry Potter? The Potter family had no one of that name! The House had been nearly decimated in some War ages ago by a man with a funny name, Grinnywall or something like that, so the only people in it were Aunt Dorea and Uncle Charlus!

Then they said this Harry person was her new guardian! Why did she need a new guardian? Guardians were people like family, or friends, or godparents, that took the place of family members. Her Mother and Daddy and everyone weren't dead What about Auntie Burga and Uncle Orion? Or Uncle Alphard? What happened to her sister? Where was Andy? What happened to them? Were they dead? Was there a fire? A flood? Or lightning? Or assassins? Or Muggles?

No one would tell her anything! And the lady put a silencing spell on her so she couldn't even ask!

Then she was stuck in this little gray room on a very, very, very uncomfy chair, forever before a man in red robes came in and started asking all sorts of weird questions. Things about her life, and her, and then stuff that never even happened! What did they think she was a Seer or something? That was a gift of the Trelawney and Lovegood lines, not the Black family red robed man. And who calls them self You Know Who? Really? It was a silly stupid name that would get way too confusing after a while. Cause, what if you don't know who? She didn't! And then the weird man said the funny named man was actually called Voldemort, but that was even sillier!

People in red robes were weird. Really, really, stupidly, annoyingly weird!

All she wanted was to go home, either to her house with Mother and Daddy, or to Aunt Burga and Uncle Orion's house. She wanted to go and sleep in her bed, with her blankets, and her night gown, with her toys. Not in the lumpy bed in the gray room that was too quiet, and had a wall made of bars, and a door to match! She wanted her room with her books and her toys and her family, and she wanted it NOW! And she wanted Kreacher! Kreacher was always nice to her, and gave her treats and said nice things. Maybe he'd tell her what was going on. But then the red robed man put a silencing spell on her, just like the dressing gown lady, so she couldn't talk, and it wasn't fair! Mother and Daddy only did that when she or her sisters were rreally, really, really, ever so bad! And she'd been good! Mother and Daddy had warned her that Father Christmas wouldn't come if she was bad! So she'd been trying extra, extra hard!

And why wouldn't the red robed man tell her his name? Didn't he have one? Stupid red robed man. Fine, if he wouldn't tell her his name then she wouldn't lower herself to associate with him!

Thus determined, the haughty little Pureblood girl crossed her arms, raised her chin, and turned smartly on her heel to face away from the stupid red robed man. She should call the Aurors on him!

* * *

Filled with trepidation, Harry made his way over to where he saw a rather irritated little girl, who he vaguely recognized as Bellatrix, standing by a rather irritated Auror. She didn't look very happy, which would only make matters worse for him. Great. Fantastic. As if his life could get any worse.

Sighing, he reached the Auror and asked dejectedly, "I suppose you're here to drop her off?" The Auror simply nodded. Okay then. He turned to the little girl and told her, "Come on then, we need to find a compartment." When she didn't respond, he looked directly at her and saw her mouthing a rather irate string of words, but no sound actually coming forth. He turned back to the Auror. "Please, tell me you didn't Silence her?" At the Aurors nod, he groaned, and cancelled the spell on his ward.

Thus burst forth a rather angry tirade from the three year old. "-you? And where's my Mother? And Daddy? What did you do to them? And where is Andy? Or-" She stopped short, apparently realizing she was audible again. "I can talk! Thank y- hey!" She got an angry look on her face. "You're the angry boy with the wand! You were in the weird place with the sparkles and the raggedy man! Who are you?"

Blinking rapidly, due to the girl's high pitch and rapid speech, he replied, "I'm Harry, and since my Godfather apparently made me his heir, I am your guardian. Now please, just be quiet so we can find a compartment." He then picked her up and proceeded to carry her while dragging his trunk to the train. It was rather awkward to try, but he didn't trust her to follow him.

They reached the normal compartment at the end of the train. He supposed they could have gotten one towards the front, but that would give more students the chance to gawk, and spread rumors, and he really, really didn't want to deal with that at the moment. He just wanted to get through this train ride, and then he'd deal with his Aunt and Uncle and... something. Hopefully his friends would find him. He set the girl, who was being rather quiet, on the bench, and shoved his trunk onto the overhead.

Sitting down across from her, he asked the girl, "So, what should I call you then?"

She looked at him oddly, before stating imperiously, "I am Bellatrix Elizabeth Anne Black. My sister calls me Trixie. Andy can't pronounce Bellatrix." Dropping the haughtiness, she whispered mischievously, "But I like being called Bella. Daddy calls me that, because he says it means beautiful, and I'll grow up to be a beautiful young lady. I hope he's right."

"So you want to be called Bella then?"

"Uh huh!"

"Okay... Bella... I need you to tell me, what do you know about what's going on?" He asked seriously.

"Well, I know I was going to bed at Aunt Burga's house after my birthday party, and Andy, my baby sister, and gotten spit up all over my brand new dress, and I was mad and started crying, so Mother sent me to bed, and then just when I fell asleep I woke up with you pointing your wand at me, in too big clothes, like when I play dress up with Mother's robes, and then the raggedy man -he needs new clothes by the way- took me to see a weird lady with something like Great Grandfather's in her eye, and there was a gray room and an uncomfy chair and questions and red robed people, and nobody would tell me anything and and uncomfy bed, and I want to go home!"

By the end of it all, she was starting to cry and had crawled over to him and was now bawling into his robe.

Of course, this is when Hermione, Ron, and Neville showed up. Hermione started to inform him, "You forgot your letter and Ginny and Luna will be here in a..." She trailed off, before scooping the distraught little girl into her arms, "Hey, it's okay, calm down, shh... shh..." She rocked her a bit while the boys looked on in shock, until Bella had stopped bawling and was only sniffling occasionally. Then she looked back up at her friends rather surprised faces. "What? I did this all the time with my little sister Ophelia."

"You have a sister?" Ron asked.

"Yes, she was born in our second year, didn't I tell you? I suppose with being Petrified and then the school year ending, and then the whole debacle with... Sirius... it kind of got forgotten. Now, who is this little sweetheart?"

"I'm Bella." the little girl's reply was muffled from her head being buried in Hermione's robes.

Hermione stiffened. "Bellatrix Black?" she asked with a forced calm.

"That would be her. She was telling me what has been happening from her point of view since she ended up like this when you all came in."

The others, Neville and Ron particularly, didn't really know how to react to this, and fell silent for a while. About twenty minutes later, Ginny and Luna finally showed up, to find a... tense atmosphere, to put it mildly. Neville was glaring at a sleeping Bella, whose thumb was in her mouth, while clenching his hand into a fist, Hermione still held Bella, looking distinctly uncomfortable with the silence, and Ron seemed nervous, almost afraid of coming near the little girl, while Harry just looked exhausted.

"Oh my, it looks like the Nargles got here." Luna commented airily. "Neville, the Wrackspurts will come too if you don't calm down. They're finally leaving Harry alone, it wouldn't be a good idea for you to get them now." Then she sat down by Hermione and took Bella from her, being careful not to wake her.

Ginny just sat between Harry and Neville and looking between the two, asked, "Do I really want to know what's going on?"

"Well, I am now the guardian of a three year old Bellatrix Black." Harry replied.

* * *

The train ride to London was rather quiet after that. Luna's comment had managed to calm Neville a bit, so he wasn't clenching his fist or glaring any more. Instead he was rather restless and kept looking at the door while crossing his arms. He also seemed to have opted to simply ignore the girl and was talking with Ginny about Herbology. Something about it's correlation to potions and the household uses of common herbs. Hermione was reading a book, and looking occasionally over at Bella, while Ron just sat looking uncomfortable, Harry looked out the window, and Luna was singing lullabies to Bella.

Finally reaching his breaking point with the tense, awkward conversations, and glares and tension, Ron exclaimed, rather loudly, "So! Hermione, why don't you tell us about your sister? You haven't said much before now."

Looking similarly relieved at the break in tension, Hermione responded, "Well, her name is Ophelia. Ophelia Anne Granger. Er, She's almost three, will be in July, and Mum says she's showing signs of being highly intelligent. Mum asked me if I knew if she was going to be a witch, but I don't know if she's likely to be magical or not. The research on the subject is sporadic at best and often contradictory. Plus, the last time any research was done, or published at least, was over 200 years ago, when the standard of living was, admittedly, rather low. At least, it was for Muggles, especially in comparison to today, and I don't know if that could have an effect. So she might be. I don't know what to hope. If she is, she will hopefully come into the Wizarding World at a point when everything has improved, and hopefully Voldemort will be defeated. If she isn't, I'm scared she'll be targeted anyways, just because she is a Muggle. I just don't know.

"But I'm worrying. You wanted to know about her, right?" the others in the compartment nodded, needing a bit of a distraction from the elephant in the compartment, namely the little girl who was sucking her thumb and listening quietly from Luna's lap. "Well, she's a sweetheart. She's got these greyish eyes that I swear look green at times, like my mother's father, and she's blonde like my Dad, but Mum says it may darken when she get older. It's also really curly, but it's not bushy like mine. Mum says that's why my hair was always short when I was little. Taking care of a little kid's hair is always hard, apparently, because of all that restless energy and sugar intake from processed foods, and, anyways... Mum says it's always bad, but it's worse when the hair seems to fight back." She smiled, "I love her, she's just a little darling, and she absolutely loves Crookshanks. Although, admittedly, I don't think Crookshanks is quite as fond of her. She like to drag him around by the middle, and force him into her room for 'tea parties' with her bear and dolls. It is adorable though. I've considered getting a camera like Collin's just to record it."

"She sounds like a sweet kid." Harry commented.

"I wanna meet her!" Bella piped up. No one -save perhaps Luna- had realized she had woken up during all this, and been listening to Hermione talk about Ophelia. She turned to Harry, "Pleeaase Harry! I wanna meet her! She sounds nice not at all like Rita. Molly's okay but she's bossy and even if she wasn't I almost never see her. So can I please, please, please meet her? I want a friend! Pleeeeaaasse." The girl pleaded.

Harry didn't know how to respond to this, and looked at his friends who looked were of absolutely no help. "Umm," he replied, "Err... why don't you ask Hermione? It is her sister after all!"

Hermione glared at how her best friend threw her under the bus, so to speak, as the little girl turned her dark eyes to the brunette. "Umm," she stammered. "How about I ask my Mum and Dad, yeah? I don't know what they might have planned. I can write Harry with an answer, does that sound okay?"

"Yeah!" Bella yelled, before jumping over to give Hermione a big hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She sat back on Luna's lap, and smiled at Luna, saying, "I'm gonna have a friend!"

Harry didn't know how to feel about that statement. After all, she was a Pureblood, like Malfoy, heck her sister married Malfoy senior, and from what... Sirius... had told him, the Black family was of a higher circle. Why wouldn't she have friends?

"Hey, Harry?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, Ron?"

"What are you going to tell the Muggles? It doesn't seem as though they'd be too happy with you bringing her home."

Before Harry could reply, Bella asked, "Why would we live with Muggles? One of the people in red robes said I was living with him because he's the new Lord Black. That means we should be living at Gri- Gr- huh. I don't remember the name. We're supposed to live at The house Uncle Orion and Aunt Burga live in. It's, it's in London... I think... but it's the ancestral home! We can't live anywhere else, it's tradition!"

"But I'm not seventeen, I can't leave the Dursley's, right? That's what I've been told. Every year. Since first year. Being your guardian wouldn't change that."

"You didn't read all of that letter did you? There was a second sheet of parchment in it that said you were emancipated. You just need Dumbledore to tell her the address of Headquarters. They said that Sirius left you everything, right? That would include his house. I just don't know how to test it. Do any of you know?"

"Call the family house elf." Neville grunted. "If you are Head of the House, and Sirius left you his home, then it should come."

Reluctantly, but at the same time hopefully, Harry called out, "Kreacher?"

There was a crack, and the decrepit old House Elf appeared. "Master is calling Kreacher?" Under his breath, he continued, "Nasty Half blood that he is, no right to the Noble House of Black, son of a Mudblood, oh my poor Mistress, how she'd weep, Kreacher wants to go to Miss Narcissa, yes he does, with poor Miss Bella being missing. Oh my poor Mistress, how she'd weep..."

Bella, who had been silently, perhaps out of shock that this was Kreacher, more than thirty years older than she'd last seen him, and half mad at that, spoke up sharply. "Kreacher! You shouldn't say such things of your Master! It isn't nice! You always say that I should be nice! What's wrong? I've never heard you insult people like that, not even when they act like horrible meanies and yell at you! Kreacher?"

The house elf was staring in shock, shaking his head, at his Miss Bella, or what looked like Miss Bella when she was little, before the Cruel Dark Lord had risen, and taken her and Master Regulus into his service and she'd been sent to Azkaban, the horrible place, where even Kreacher couldn't go to her. But it couldn't be her, could it? But she seemed to know Kreacher! What magic was this?

"What is this?" Kreacher croaked, "Miss Bellatrix is a grown Miss, and married to the Lestrange boy, one of them, a respectable Pureblood match, yes Miss Bellatrix did quite well, but how can she be here, like a small Miss, before horrible Master was born who broke his mother's heart... Not possible, it isn't..."

"Kreacher," Harry said, "I need you to not insult people, do it in your head if you must, but I have no desire to hear you insult people I care for. Miss... Bella... had and accident in the Department of Mysteries, and became as she is now. She doesn't remember anything past her third birthday. Now, she and I may be moving to Grimmauld Place, I need you to actually clean it, and make it fit for habitation. Miss Bella will be there, and we don't want her hurt do we?"

Kreacher shook his head violently, "No, no, can't have Miss Bella hurt, Miss Bella be good to Kreacher, Kreacher must fix her room, yes he must, must make sure it is just as she likes it, Kreature will go..." With a crack, Kreacher disappeared, presumably to Grimmauld Place.

"Now to write a letter to Dumbledore." Harry said. He still hated Kreacher, and would quite frankly love to see his head on a wall, but... he had no clue how to care for a little girl. Kreacher obviously did, this little girl particularly, and thus... he was useful. The Dursleys had taught him one thing if nothing else; take every advantage you can. So he wrote a letter, sent Hedwig with it, and tried to relax until they got to King's Cross.

Neville left a few minutes later, something about finding Hannah and asking about the Herbology assignment. Ginny left not long after, when she and Ron started arguing about her dating habits. Luna just pulled out a copy of the Quibbler, while Ron borrowed Hermione's copy of the Prophet to look at the Quidditch stats. Bella went back to sleep, and Hermione pulled out her book. Harry just leaned against the window and asked Ron to wake him when the Trolley came.

He hadn't accounted for Bella's reaction to eating all that sugar from said Trolley.

* * *

_A/N - Well, hopefully you all like this, and don't hate me for taking months to update. I haven't really edited this too much, other than spell check and trying to make sure it makes coherent sense. There are some shifts in POV, but this will mostly be Harry's view on the goings on. So, tell me what you think, read review, encourage me to stop procrastinating! And Merry Christmas!_

_~Kate_

**_Changes: Neville and Ginny left the compartment at the end, Neville using the excuse that he needs to talk to Hannah, and Ginny because Ron stuck his nose into her romantic life again, minor grammar changes throughout, listed the activities of everyone at the end, re-did the explanation on why Harry didn't realize the full extent of getting guardianship of Bella; namely, he doesn't have to live with the Dursleys and is emancipated. He didn't realize due to dropping the piece of paper stating such and still grieving and not really thinking very much, note that isn't going to be the main focus of the story. The main focus is him dealing with, for all intents and purposes, parenting his godfather's murderer and grieving said godfather. Also tried to elucidate on everyone's reactions to Bella, in that she is essentially the elephant in the room, helped by the fact that she is exhausted and sleeping most of the ride._  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Baby Bella – Chapter Three**

**_At least it wasn't fourteen months this time? Just six..._**

* * *

Instead of being woken up by his best friend when they reached King's Cross Station in London, as Harry had expected, he was awoken in a far different matter. He was woken by his young charge, Bella, not a half hour after he'd fallen asleep. And, of course, she woke him by jumping on him. Suddenly. Damn Dursleys for making him a light sleeper. Then again, constant nightmares for the past year or so hadn't helped much. Regardless, he was woken up by Bellatrix in the following manner.

"Harry!" Bella shrieked, jumping onto her guardian's lap. "Harry, Harry, Harry, HARRY!"

"Whu- huh- Wha's goin' on? Bella? We at King's Cross?" Aforementioned guardian said blearily, brain not fully functional quite yet.

"Harryyyyy! Wake up! Wake up, wake up, wake uuu-uuup!" Bella, well, _whined_.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Harry looked at the three year old. She was just about vibrating in place, had a rather maniac grin on her face, and said face was covered in what looked to be chocolate and the remains from some jelly bean shells. Oh great.

"Bella," he started cautiously, "What have you had to eat?"

Jumping up to emphasize her speech as she answered, the girl responded, "I had some candy! Mr. Ron gave me some Bertie Bott's Beans, and some of them didn't taste good, and I spat some on the crazy-haired girl, Hermy, and she left, I think to read, what was she reading, it was a big book. And then, and then I had some froggies! And they were chocolatey, and There was licorice, I LOVE licorice! It was red, and looked like a wand, and I had some, some, uhh... Oh yeah! I had some really, really yummy Pasties! They were pumpkin flavored, and come Cauldron Cakes! They were soooo tasty! I liked them! Can I have more? Then I had some more beans! They were even worse! One tasted like brussel sprouts, I hate brussel sprouts! I threw up when Kreacher tried to make me eat brussel sprouts! Still, the candy was yuuuuummmmmy! Can I have more? Mr Ron said to ask you." She finished.

Harry just blinked for a few seconds, just trying to process all she had said, as it had been rather high pitched, and fast. Rather like a chipmunk, if a chipmunk could talk. Or a squirrel. Or something like that. Shaking his head a bit, he responded, "Uhh, Bella... I think you should stop having so much candy, in fact, why don't you just come sit down, or something. I dunno, um..." Searching around for something a small child could do without agitating anyone in the compartment further (Ron was eying the small girl warily, Luna was just reading her magazine.), his eyes landing on a sheath of scrap parchment sticking out of his bag. Digging it, and a quill from the bottom out, he placed them on top of a text book, and handed it to her, saying "Here, just sit down, and, I dunno, draw, or something."

Bella pouted, but seemed to accept that she wouildn't e getting any more candy, for now. Sighing in relief, Harry turned his attention from her, and over to his friends. Ron in particular. "So, why was it a good idea to give the small child candy?" He asked candidly.

Ron had the good grace to blush as he replied, "Well, she was whining about being bored, and I figured if she had something in her mouth she would shut up... I didn't expect her to turn into a hyper little demon. As it is, I'm not sure if I'm more afraid of her like this, or when she's trying to curse people!"

Harry rolled his eyes, thinking the red headed boy was exaggerating, and sat back. He really just wanted to get to the train station. Maybe. He still really wasn't sure what he was going to do. How the bloody hell was he supposed to take care of a little girl? Was he supposed to drop out of Hogwarts? This was all so confusing... Rubbing his eyes, he let his head drop back, resting his eyes for just a moment...

* * *

Looking up carefully, Bella noticed that her new guar-, gair-, gawdy-, person-who-takes-care-of-her-thingy was asleep. She smiled. Drawing was boring. And there wasn't enough parchment to make it even slightly interesting. If she was supposed to draw, she wanted to draw something really big, that would be fun! And she still wanted more candy. It was really, really, really, super duper yummy! It made her feel like she'd been hit with a cheering charm, but funner! Now, how to get some...

The red headed boy, Mr... Ron? Yes, Mr. Ron, was reading his Quidditch book again, and the nice Luna Lady was still reading her magazine. Peering at the girl with the pretty hair, she caught her eye by accident, and the Luna Lady did something amazing! She winked at Bella! It was like she knew she was going to get into what Mummy and Daddy and Auntie and Uncle and Kreature called mischief, but didn't care! The little girl smiled, and carefully set down the quill and parchment. If she was quiet, maybe she could grab another froggie before Mr. Ron noticed. Chocolate was nummy, and didn't sometimes taste icky like the bad beans. No, the froggies were best.

The little girl quietly set aside her drawing supplies and rose up to her feet, stepping over the bags scattered on the compartment floor by it's inhabitants. Well, she thought she was careful. Most people would say stepping heavily and lurching about in a form of tip-toeing was rather overt. Thankfully (for her at least) the gangly red head didn't look up from his book, her guardian was asleep, and the spacey blonde was amused with her attempts at subtlety. So, in other words, no one was stopping the little child from going into a sugar coma.

Bella pulled a few of the chocolate frog boxes over, and summarily ate, oh, a half dozen of them. She had now gone from happily buzzing on her sugar, and was well on her way to bouncing. Two more frogs and she was in full on bounce mode. A suddenly tasty looking box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, had her beyond that and jumping, which _finally_ caught the attention of a rather oblivious red head. Well, either that, or the fact that the chocolate frog boxes he was absently digging through were all empty. Regardless, his attention was pulled from his Quidditch book.

"WHAT the BLOODY HELL, are you doing?" he shouted at the tiny Pureblooded witch. It didn't help his temper when she jumped about a foot, tripped over his bag, and fell onto him.

"ACK!" Screamed Bella, "I'm sowwy Mr. Ronny! I's didn't mean to fawll on yous!"

The teenager was turning a lovely shade of maroon, likely from irritation, when the green eyed boy by the window decided to rejoin the land of the living. "Oh, come on! Can't a bloke take a nap without shouting?"

"Oopsies!" Shrieked the toddler, "Is sowwy Mr Hawwy, Go back seepy, go seep!" She then turned to the red head and, rather loudly, exclaimed, "SHHHHHH! Mr Hawwy is t-wying to seep! So quiet!"

The red head just stared in mute outrage, while Harry chuckled tiredly, and Luna burst into -somewhat hysterical- laughter.

"I'm going to find Hermione." The irate Weasley muttered, stalking out of the compartment. Luna and Harry were silent for all of... thirty seconds after the door shut before they burst out laughing.

Running his hand through his hair, Harry leaned back into his seat, chuckling. "Well, it rather obvious that I am _not _going to be getting any substantial amount of sleep on this ride. So what just happened?"

After taking a moment to tame her shrieks of laughter, Luna responded, "Well, I think Bella was _trying_ to be sneaky and et some more candy. It actually worked, but I think the Nargles warned Ronald in some way, because he looked up from his Quidditch book and got mad at her, with her face so covered in candy."

The toddler being spoken of was rather pouty at the expressed sentiment; she was not _trying_, she was _succeeding_ in being sneaky!

Regardless, her guardian had a rather good laugh out of the situation. He then picked up Bella and set her on the now mostly empty seat and asked her candidly, "Okay, midget, what'll it take to keep you out of mischief, at least til we get to Gri- Grim-" Oddly, Harry found that he couldn't say the name of Headquarters. He couldn't quite understand why, when he was speaking to Ron and Hermione it wasn't a problem... Oh! That must be the Fidelious charm, since Hermione and Ron knew the secret, but Luna and Bella did not. That could be a problem. How was he supposed to live there, according to Bella and Kreacher, if Bella couldn't get in? Damn it, he should have waited to send that letter to the Headmaster, as it was, he'd have to hope that it was received in enough time that he could send _another_ so that Bella could get in. That, or they'd be spending the night at the Leaky.

* * *

_**Well, I got it out? And it's about three pages long? Don't kill me! I meant to get this out Monday, but I got stuck, and then I had a family picnic yesterday, so... Sorry? Either way, it's over 1500 words, without notes. So... review and tell me what you think!**_


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